OK, so we are having fun now!

Pretty soon we are going to have to head back to Ontario for a rest!  We are having too much fun here… should be a law against this I guess!

We both were up early this morning, heading separate ways!  I was off for the flying field at 7:30, as the weather has again turned fantastic, and conditions were ideal!  We had over 12 vehicles out on the old flying field this morning, as we are in the peak of the season now.  The RV Resort is full!

This first pictures tonight, is me flying my new Corsair, at about 4:00 this afternoon, as you can see the sun getting ready to hide behind Mount Jacinta…  what a beautiful afternoon it was… ( Yes, I went out flying twice today!)

Getting ready to hand launch the Corsair this afternoon.

These next few pictures are from this morning, as we all get set to fly… check out the blue sky today!

 

Fly, baby, fly!

 

So while I was off flying, Judy hooked up at the flag pole in the Resort this morning at 8:30, and met up with a group for the weekly Spiritual Hike.  They had about 15 ladies out this morning, and off they went to Morango Canyon, up Hwy. 62 towards Yucca Valley.

Not sure if this first picture has anything to do with the hike or not, but I found it on her camera.

Off they go… “let’s climb that there hill…”

I can only imagine the guy below has been parked at the trail for quite some time now…

This is a very popular hiking area… everyone is enjoying!

Coffee break time…

This afternoon, I headed into DHS, to pick up a couple items at Stater Bros. Grocery, and so what a great chance to take the motorcycle into Town, on such a great day.  I did a mini tour of DHS and found a road that goes up the mountains behind the Town to the Water Tower… took a few pics.

This first one is looking over DHS west, towards our RV Resort in the distance…

Here is good old Mount Jacinta with DHS in the foreground…

This afternoon, Judy and I went out for a walk around the Resort, and I took this picture of the front pond and waterfalls, which greet you as you enter our Resort… took this with the smart phone…there is a big turtle in this pond, that I wanted a picture of, but no co-operation today from him.

 

Ok, so here is your dose of reality for today… this next picture I borrowed off our Son’s facebook page.  It is a picture of “Frosty, the Snowman” of course, in their backyard in Ottawa, Ontario.  Our Grandaughters, Emmie and Paige built him!  Emmie kept running to the back window of the house, to see if Frosty, “had come to life!”  Frosty used to be on the far left of this picture in the yard, however Dr. Shawn went out with a big shovel and “moved” Frost to the other side of the yard, by the play house… our little Grandaughters may never be the same again!  I have not heard yet what happened when the girls saw that Frosty had moved!

 

Phew…. ya, sunny and warm again tomorrow!

Till tomorrow…

Nothing like a good Palm Springs Winter!

Here is the forecast for Gravenhurst, Ontario for the next 4 days…

Here is the forecast for Palm Springs for the next 4 days…

So where would you rather be???

This winter in Ontario, has not been too bad, but there is still snow, and some cold, and it is still winter!  We have found this winter in Palm Springs, to be the best winter since we have started coming south, now 3 years ago!  Today it hit 81 deg. F. here, and was wonderful. 

Went flying this morning, and found nothing but a bunch of wind, and ended up crashing my Cub due to wind sheer… ouch… however nothing that a couple small parts from Uncle Don’s couldn’t fix!  Back in the air tomorrow!  Had the new Corsair up in the air also today, but had to stop as the winds picked up… had a couple ruff landings with it, but no big damage… back in the air tomorrow!

This afternoon, Judy and I jumped on the Burgman, and drove up to Yucca Valley, in the high desert.  I found a hobby shop up there called Ground Control RC and I wanted to check it out.  It was a great afternoon for a motorcycle ride, nice and warm, a bit of wind, but not too bad.  It turned out to be a great find, nice shop with lots of inventory!  Will probably be back!

Other than that, not a lot went on here today!  That is the way life is sometimes! 

Till tomorrow…

 

The fleet was grounded…

The desert winds were at it a bit again this morning, as it was simply too windy to risk putting the fleet up in the air… maybe tomorrow…

As it was still a beautiful day, we decided to take a run up to Joshua Tree National Forest, as we had some un-finished business up there!

Check out his picture taken along the Dillon Road, of Mount Gorgonio… it has a nice fresh layer of snow from last night, there would be excellent skiing up at Big Bear for sure!

Before you get to the Joshua Tree turnoff, we headed into Black Rock Canyon, which borders onto Joshua Tree.  Judy had heard there was a good hiking trail there… time to check it 

out!  I found this great view of the same Mount Gorgonio again, but with a Joshua Tree in it!

It was a little brisk, up at about 4,000 feet here, but the sun was shinning, and life was good!

This is the view we found at the top of this trail, which was amazing!  You could see for miles!

Of course these hikes are never finished until you complete the paper work!  It’s the Banker in me…

After we finished the hike, it was time to head into Joshua Tree National Forest… we could tell we were there as soon as the rocks started showing up.

We enjoyed our lunch we had prepared for the day, and then decided to take the hike out to Ryan’s Ranch… Todd Ryan and his brother built this Ranch in 1896 if you can believe it, as they had found a natural spring, and needed water over at Lost Horse Mine.   The mine was 3 1/2 miles away so they piped it over!  This Ranch is huge, and still has many artefacts from the day lying all over the place.

They called it the Golden Brick Ranch, as they used mine tailings when making the bricks along with sand and water… later they found the mine tailings contained Gold!

Back in the 1970’s, some vandals burned down the ranch, so only the walls remain now… too bad!

As we were leaving the Ranch, we found this guy up to no good!

He made it!

Instead of driving all the way back around to DHS, we decided to see if we could take our Jeep and make it through the Berdoo Canyon Road.  This is a road, that leaves the park, and works across the desert, and they down the Berdoo Canyon, leading you to the Dillon Road! 

WARNING:  These next pictures show the professional use of a Jeep Liberty!  DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!  Also, do not borrow your Father’s car and take it on this road! 

Below I am scouting out the road at a bit of a ruff spot, this road was about 23 miles from the Park, down to the Dillon Road… you start at 4,400 feet of elevation, and end up at 800 feet.  (We made it!)

It was a bit narrow at times, but it was easier to make this road going down hill believe it or not!

We came across two Hummer Tours!  They take you out for some adventure!  We were making our own.  The Hummer Driver told us not too continue as it was too difficult for our Jeep… ya , right fellow!  Think again, it’s a Jeep!  You wouldn’t understand!

There were a few ruff spots, but overall a great trail to follow.  Jeep did a great job! 

We were back home by 3:30 enjoying the hot tubs!

Congratulations go out tonight to The Honourable David Broad.  Ontario’s latest Superior Court Judge, who was sworn in yesterday!  David is our Daughter Kristina’s Father-in-Law, and yes, that makes him little Gwenny’s Grandfather!  (Gwenny is the little one on the left!)

They put little Gwenny into the Judge’s Chair, but the responsibility seemed a bit overwhelming to her!  I borrowed these pictures from Kristina’s blog.

After the Ceremony, the new Judge got to relax with his Grandaughter… congratulations again David!  Well done!

Till tomorrow…